The Microsoft vs. FTC court proceedings continue, with more new info being shed on not just Xbox, but also PlayStation.

Poorly-redacted documents published for the case have revealed the scale of PlayStation budgets for The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West (via Tom Warren).

The document stated that triple-A games from PlayStation cost over US$100 million. Horizon Forbidden West cost US$212 million to make and was worked on by 300 employees for 5 years. The Last Of Us Part 2 cost US$220 million to make and was worked on by 200 people for five years.

Sony did great job on the document redactions… not ? https://t.co/aPQgk9JU8L pic.twitter.com/5rJQbZbbd0

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) June 28, 2023

I guess this was what ex-PlayStation head Shawn Layden meant when he said creating modern blockbusters is “unsustainable” back in 2020. Here’s a quote from his talk:

“I think the industry as a whole needs to sit back and go, ‘Alright, what are we building? What’s the audience expectation? What is the best way to get our story across, and say what we need to say?”.